GKIDS has announced that they have acquired the North American distribution rights for the latest feature animated by Production I.G, The Deer King (Shika no Ou). The feature film premiered during the Annecy Film Festival earlier this week and will be released in North American theaters by GKIDS in early 2022. The film will be released subtitled in its original Japanese language, as well as with a new English dub version.
The Deer King marks the directorial debut of acclaimed animator Msashi Ando who previously worked with the famed Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke). Joining him are directors Satoshi Kon (Paprika) and Makoto Shinkai (Your Name).
Production I.G, the animation studio behind the anime adaptation, is probably best known for its work on features such as Ghost in the Shell, FLCL, Haikyu!!, and Psycho Pass. The studio's 2011 feature A Letter to Momo and its 2015 feature Miss Hokusai are also distributed by GKIDS.
The book series, written by Nahoko Uehashi, won the Booksellers Award and the fourth Japan Medical Novel Award in 2015 and has printed more than 2 million copies in Japan so far.
In the years following a vicious war, the Empire of Zol now controls the land and citizens of rival Aquafa – except for Aquafa's Fire Horse Territory, where wild dogs that once carried the deadly Black Wolf Fever continue to roam free. When a pack of dogs race through a Zol-controlled mine, Van, an enslaved former soldier, and a young girl named Yuna are both bitten, but manage to escape as the sole survivors of the attack. Finally free, Van and Yuna seek out a simple, peaceful existence in the countryside. But as the deadly disease once again runs rampant, they find themselves at the crossroads of a struggle much larger than any one nation.
Are you familiar with The Deer King novels? Are you excited for this anime and feature film adaptation?